AN ACT CONCERNING MUNICIPAL OPEN SPACE PRIORITIES AND FUNDING FOR THE PURCHASE OF SUCH PROPERTIES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) A municipality may impose a buyer's fee on the conveyance of real property, occurring on or after July 1, 2017, at the rate of not more than one per cent of the consideration paid by the buyer in excess of one hundred fifty thousand dollars. Such fee may be retained by the municipality, shall be kept in a separate account and shall be used to purchase development rights related to or the purchase and stewardship of open space and farm land by the municipality or by the municipality in cooperation with the state or federal government or with a private organization such as a land trust.

(b) Conveyances resulting in the preservation of open space and farm land shall be exempt from any fee imposed pursuant to the provisions of subsection (a) of this section.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:

Section 1

from passage

New section

Statement of Purpose:

To enable municipalities to impose a conveyance fee on certain real property sales in order to generate funds for the preservation of open space.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]